The Riot! E-Newsletter
John Agosta
Vice President
John M. Agosta, Ph.D., is a Vice President at the Human Services Research Institute and has worked with people with disabilities for over 30 years. Dr. Agosta completed his doctorate in Rehabilitation Research at the University of Oregon, specializing in research methods and community supports for people with disabilities. Additionally, he has extensive experience with community supports, having worked in direct services and administrative positions within agencies offering early intervention, residential, vocational, or family support services.
Yoshiko Kardell
Policy Analyst
Ms. Kardell is a policy analyst with HSRI and helps coordinate projects related to self-advocacy. She has several years of experience working for people with disabilities including providing direct support and state level advocacy. She has a graduate degree in Social Work from Portland State University and an undergraduate degree in Social Work from the University of Nebraska – Omaha.
Jennifer Negus
Policy Assistant
Ms. Negus is a Policy Assistant that works with HSRI's Developmental Disabilities team in Oregon. She supports multiple self-advocacy projects and works directly with self-advocates on a variety of day-to-day tasks including off-site coordination in multiple states, event planning, production of user-friendly materials for self-advocates, tracks project budgets and coordinates both the production of The Riot! e-newsletter and it’s National Conversation Series. She has worked for HSRI since 2002.
Elizabeth Pell
Policy Analyst
Ms. Pell has worked in the advocacy field on behalf of persons with mental and physical disabilities for over twenty years. At HSRI, she has coordinated evaluation projects such as the National Evaluation of the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI) Program and worked on numerous quality improvement projects involving individuals and families with developmental disabilities. Prior to HSRI, Ms. Pell worked as a Legal Advocate for persons with developmental and psychiatric disabilities with the federal Protection and Advocacy systems in Alabama and Massachusetts, as Director of an Elder Abuse and Protection department in Massachusetts, and as Director of Social Services with a hospice agency in Oregon.
Drew Smith
Policy Analyst
Mr. Smith works on several projects related to developing person-centered funding strategies, assessing the impacts of service changes and reductions, and supporting self-advocacy. While at HSRI, Mr. Smith has worked on resource allocation projects in Colorado, Florida, Oregon, Rhode Island, North Dakota and Virginia, as well as strategic planning projects in Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Illinois and North Carolina. Mr. Smith currently also works with the University of Minnesota on the Residential Information Systems Project (RISP). He is a graduate of Portland State University in Business Administration.
